Dubai Crown Prince pays hospital bills of Nigerian mother stranded with quadruplets following

Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has paid the hospital expenses of a Nigerian mother and her quadruplets stranded in the city with mounting medical bills, according to the hospital.

Suliyat Adulkareem, 29, gave birth to the babies, two boys, and two girls, at the Latifa Hospital for Women and Children on July 1.

They were born prematurely at nearly 31 weeks through an emergency C-section and placed on ventilators at the neonatal intensive care unit, the hospital said in a statement.

However, the family had no medical insurance and racked up more than AED 400,000 (about $108,000) in medical expenses since the quadruplets were born, their father Tijani Abdulkareem told CNN.

The Nigerian community and other nationals in Dubai rallied around them to help raise AED 42,000 (around $11,500) to pay part of the bills.

The Crown Prince stepped in to pay the bills after he came across the initial CNN report highlighting the family’s story.

He was moved by their plight and informed his office to assist the family, the hospital said.

Blockchain Powering the City of the Future

Smart Dubai seeks to make Dubai the happiest city on earth. Participation from all city stakeholders — residents, visitors, business owners, parents, and families — is a cornerstone of the strategy. This goal will be carried out by leveraging a wide range of technologies including blockchain, AI, IoT, and by focusing on three strategic pillars: government efficiency, industry creation, and international leadership.
Collaborating with private sector and government partners, Smart Dubai was established to empower, deliver and promote an efficient, seamless, safe and impactful city experience for residents and visitors. To achieve its strategic pillars, Smart Dubai aims to introduce initiatives and develop partnerships to contribute to its Smart Economy, Smart Living, Smart Governance, Smart Environment, Smart People and Smart Mobility dimensions.

Dubai aims to be the “first city fully powered by blockchain by 2021.” The Dubai Blockchain 2020 Mandate, spearheaded by the Smart Dubai Office, establishes a roadmap for the introduction of blockchain technology in Dubai. Its goals include: achieve efficiency by using blockchain in 100% of applicable government services, creating and enabling blockchain ecosystem for startups and businesses, and to become a global thought leader by piloting cross-border blockchain cases.

Eid Al Adha prayer timings across UAE announced

Mosques and Eid Musallahs (open air prayer spaces) across the country will not host the special Eid Al Adha prayers as a precautionary measure against the spread of Covid-19. However, the faithful have been encouraged to offer the prayer at home individually or with their families.

Mosques across the country will broadcast the Eid Takbeer (supplications) before the prayer.
So, when exactly should you offer the prayer on Friday, July 31? Here are the Eid prayer timings across the UAE:

>Abu Dhabi: 6.07am
>Al Ain: 6.01am
>Madinat Zayed: 6.12am
>Dubai: 6.03am
>Sharjah: 6.02am
>Ajman: 6.02am
>Umm Al Quwain: 6.01am
>Ras Al Khaimah: 5.59am
>Fujairah: 5.58am

According to the General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments, the Eid sacrifices can be made from 6.30am (Abu Dhabi time) till sunset of the second day of Eid.

Motorcyclist dies on Dubai highway

A motorcyclist was killed on a Dubai highway when a car knocked him down and another car ran over him. According to officials in Dubai Police, the accident occurred on 12:30pm on Monday on Mohammed Bin Zayed Road after Dubai Al Ain bridge towards Sharjah.
The Asian motorcyclist was on his lane when a vehicle rammed him from behind. He was thrown on the fourth lane in the highway before he was struck by another speeding car. Police patrols from Al Rashidiya Police station and ambulance went to the scene but the biker died due to his severe injuries.

Earlier on Sunday, another Dubai biker died after he lost control over his vehicle, hit the pavement and collided with a lamppost on Al Thowima Street in Al Barsha area. A third biker was seriously injured in a separate accident at 3.15am on Sunday on Emirates Road towards Abu Dhabi. Dubai police urged motorists to be careful while driving, follow speed limits, not being distracted while driving and keep a safe distance between vehicles.

Emirates to resume flights to Baghdad, Basra next month

Emirates airline will resume flights to Baghdad and Basra next month, apart from Nairobi, taking its passenger network to 67 destinations. Flights to Nairobi, Kenya, will begin on August 2, while the Iraq-bound flights will start on August 10. Flights between Nairobi and Dubai and Basra and Dubai will operate three times a week, while those between Baghdad and Dubai will operate four times a week. The flights will be operated using Boeing 777-300ER.
Last week, the Dubai-based carrier announced that it will cover its passengers for COVID-19-related medical expenses and quarantine costs when they travel on Emirates, to and from the UAE and around the world.

Emirates said travellers will only be accepted on flights if they comply with the eligibility and entry criteria requirements of their destination countries.

Dubai COVID-19 PCR test: Passengers from 29 countries to be tested twice starting August 1

Emirates airline has said that the on-arrival polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for COVID-19 at Dubai airports will be mandatory for passengers from certain specific countries from August 1. The airline has issued a list of 29 countries. Passengers flying from these countries should undergo mandatory COVID-19 PCR test upon arrival in Dubai from August 1, along with a negative COVID-19 test certificate from their country of origin.

Here’s the list of 29 countries:

Afghanistan
Armenia
Brazil
Bangladesh
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Montenegro
Nigeria
Pakistan
Philippines
Russian Federation,
Serbia
Somalia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Select airports in the United States

The US airports included in the list are Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and Orlando (MCO) — including passengers originating from California, Florida and Texas and connecting to an Emirates flight from any of the airports worldwide to Dubai.

Dubai sees a car boom as number of registered vehicles crosses 1.83 million

Number of registered vehicles in Dubai has increased to 1.83 million this year, compared to 1.4 million in 2015 and 740,000 in 2006.
Also, the number of driver licences has increased to 2.5 million this year, compared to 1.8 million in Dubai.
Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has introduced a number of new smart initiatives to facilitate customers in the wake of increasing number of vehicles and driver licences in the emirate.

Mattar Mohammad Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, endorsed a package of smart initiatives for improving and sustaining RTA’s services. Initiatives unveiled contribute to sustaining the use of RTA assets, such as roads and bridges, and improve driver and vehicle licensing services, which will improve the quality of customer services and enhance the training and qualification of drivers, and will translate into improved traffic safety levels, RTA said in a press release on Saturday.

In a meeting with the Directors of Licensing Agency, Al Tayer reviewed the performance indicators of the agency over the first five months of 2020. It was reported that the number of active driver licences in Dubai amounted to 2.5 million, while the number of registered vehicles reached 1.83 million. The Agency processed 2.447 million transactions comprising 1.6 million vehicle-licensing transactions, 760,000 driver-licensing transactions, and 4,300 no-objection transactions for commercial activities. The numbers reveal that in Dubai, effectively every second person now owns a car. The number of digital transactions processed increased from 59 per cent in December 2019 to 69 per cent in Improved Testing.

Brooker & Bozar

Brooker and Bozar are 2 young artists from Vienna who have been collecting six-figure clicks in no time with their Autotune anthems since May 2019.
Within 9 months, the two newcomers have already released 10 singles and, with their catchy harmonies, have already inspired tens of thousands of people with their music.
With a mixture of pop and rap, the two provide ear catch and entertainment factor in their tracks.

With their single “BB for President”, the two also criticized the political situation in Austria due to the beginning of the last National Council elections and caused a real uproar.


WHO ARE BROOKER & BOZAR ?

The musical streak of the two artists formed as a child.

Brooker (Ben) started playing guitar when he started elementary school and gave several guitar concerts to hundreds of people as a child. He founded a band with his current producer (Lukas) Basic Bitch at a young age, but it quickly disbanded.

Bozar (Fabian) was also drawn to the guitar at the age of 6 and learned the instrument. Within the next youth years he founded a band and was among other things in the Dominican choir. There he discovered his love for chanting and started writing his first rap lyrics early.

(Ben and Fabian) Brooker and Bozar met about 5 years ago in the Hietzinger area (1140 Vienna). What was known at that time over two corners should change drastically in the next few years.

Even as children, the two independently followed the hip-hop scene and fell in love with it. Through various parties, they became even closer friends and met soon every day, since the two lived in the same district (1140).

When they moved into a shared apartment, everything changed within a few years. They decided to record their own songs and to mix up the Austrian / German scene.

Their producer Basic Bitch (Lukas) and Ben (Brooker) have been friends since childhood, which is why a cooperation quickly came about and Brooker & Bozar recorded their first track “Para Brudi“. Since they received a good response and the decision was made to make music, they released 9 more songs within 9 months.

How can you describe our music style?

Basically, we hear hip hop in almost every language. Croatian, German, Mexican, Spanish, Italian, American or French. Therefore we would think that our music has an international influence. We also like to try out completely new things that have never existed before, such as Tech House + Rap.

We also like variety. Different beat variants. Once French, once American, and also tech house beat styles. It makes us more fun to work with.

What differentiates our music from what is currently available in German rap?

Basically we want to arouse positive feelings in people with our music. An unrestricted life in full freedom, wild parties and travel are our main topics.

We are not interested in writing about cocaine trafficking, gun ownership, or other ghetto issues because we are not that. We don’t do azzlack or street rap, but rather the opposite.
We write about Highlife + Good Vibes and record our most eventful moments and experiences on one beat.

We also do everything ourselves. We are independent artists and are not signed on any label. We try to release 1-2 new songs every month and put a lot of time and energy into our music in addition to our normal work.

What is your goal with your music?
Phew, good question. Basically, it is enough for us to realize ourselves and just be able to make our own music. It fills us with joy and gives us great pleasure in taking up our life and other topics and putting them on a beat. We experiment with word jokes, comparisons and word games every day until we think we have something in the box and then we go to the studio.

We do not decide what will happen to our music in the future, but the listeners outside. Of course it would be nice to be able to devote 100% of our everyday life to music, and to increase our output even more, but we love what we do, have a lot to do musically and do not put any pressure on us to achieve any specific goal in a certain time.

For example, next month we would like to release our 1st EP with several songs aimed at a chilled vibe.
An American-inspired EP with a special theme is also planned and we have also planned a few more singles.

What is your latest release?

Our latest release is called “Yin Yang”. In this song we chose a topic on a tech house beat that should describe our musical symbiosis. Bozar, for example, has very different musical strengths than Brooker, and vice versa. Bozar also likes to wear black outfits and Brooker prefers the color white. Basically, we wanted to create something completely new with this track that we have never seen before in the hip-hop scene. Tech-House + Rap / Pop and a few weeks of hard work have led to a result that we are quite happy with.

Man caught trying to smuggle 1.3kg of crystal meth at Dubai airport

An Asian passenger’s attempt to smuggle 1.3kg of narcotic crystal meth, worth around Dh40,000, into UAE was foiled by the Dubai Customs officials.

The contraband was concealed in the inner lining of the suitcase of the passenger at the Dubai International Airport, a top official said. Ibrahim Kamali, director of passenger operations department, said as the passenger looked confused, the officials suspected him. “The suitcase was thoroughly inspected and the narcotics recovered.” The smuggler was handed over to the General Directorate for Drug Control at Dubai Police, following the protocols of joint work and cooperation between Dubai Customs and Dubai Police.

“Dubai Customs uses the best inspectors and the latest technologies to thwart any smuggling attempt and protect the country against the hazards of illegal goods.” Dr Mohamed Hamed, a pharmacist, said that crystal meth is a form of methamphetamine. “It is a white crystalline drug that some people illegally consume by snorting, smoking or injecting it with a needle.” It is a powerful and extremely addictive man-made stimulant and its use can lead to severe physiological and psychological dependence, he added. “The clear crystal chunks, similar in appearance to actual ice or glass, are odorless and colourless.”

The effects of narcotic crystals include suppressed appetite, interference with sleeping behaviour, mood swings and unpredictability, tremors and convulsions, increased blood pressure and irregular heart rate, he elaborated.

Has Sharjah-Dubai traffic eased, commute time reduced?

Dubai: The coronavirus has turned most of our lives upside down. However, for a large section of UAE residents, a part of their lives at least has turned for the better — the daily commute between Dubai and Sharjah. With schools out for the summer and many offices still closed or only partly open, the daily drive between the two emirates has been halved in some cases, down to 30 or 40 minutes. Offices and schools had closed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, switching to Work From Home (WFH) and distance learning, respectively.

After a staggered start, Dubai government departments reopened with full staff capacity by mid-June, including some private companies. As a result, the morning rush hour from Sharjah to Dubai and the evening rush hour in the reverse direction has significantly shrunk from its earlier hour to two-hour spell. Before the lockdown, it used to take Yunus Shamsher around two hours from his Sharjah home in Al Khan to his Dubai office in Al Quoz, and vice versa. Now, it only takes about an hour. “I’ve definitely experienced less traffic. I think it’s because many offices are still doing WFH. Schools are also off for the summer. A lot of the traffic in the mornings was because of school buses and family cars on the school run,” said Shamsher, 64, a manager in a Dubai company.